But his career and health were in turmoil in 1988, when he spontaneously dropped into a recording studio in Honolulu at four in the morning and performed a plaintive acoustic medley of Somewhere Over the Rainbow with Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World. The 38-year-old, known affectionately as Iz, was the giant of Hawaiian music, famed for the sweet strength of his voice and his celebration of native Hawaiian culture. When Kamakawiwo'ole died in 1997, weighing more than 1,000lb, thousands of fans attended his funeral. "Well I'd really love to," Bernstein replied, "but he's dead." But any new fans hoping to see him perform will be as disappointed as the song's publisher, who heard the version a few years ago, realised the lyrics were slightly wrong, and asked Leah Bernstein at the Mountain Apple record label if she could ask him to re-record it. F or the past eight weeks, the biggest-selling song in Germany has been a cover version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow by a morbidly obese, ukulele-playing Hawaiian named Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.
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